EPOLL_CREATE(2)                     Linux Programmer's Manual                     EPOLL_CREATE(2)



NAME
       epoll_create, epoll_create1 - open an epoll file descriptor

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/epoll.h>

       int epoll_create(int size);
       int epoll_create1(int flags);

DESCRIPTION
       epoll_create()  creates  an  epoll(7)  instance.   Since Linux 2.6.8, the size argument is
       ignored, but must be greater than zero; see NOTES below.

       epoll_create() returns a file descriptor referring to the new epoll instance.   This  file
       descriptor  is  used  for all the subsequent calls to the epoll interface.  When no longer
       required, the file descriptor  returned  by  epoll_create()  should  be  closed  by  using
       close(2).   When all file descriptors referring to an epoll instance have been closed, the
       kernel destroys the instance and releases the associated resources for reuse.

   epoll_create1()
       If flags is 0, then, other than the fact that  the  obsolete  size  argument  is  dropped,
       epoll_create1()  is  the  same  as epoll_create().  The following value can be included in
       flags to obtain different behavior:

       EPOLL_CLOEXEC
              Set the close-on-exec (FD_CLOEXEC) flag  on  the  new  file  descriptor.   See  the
              description of the O_CLOEXEC flag in open(2) for reasons why this may be useful.

RETURN VALUE
       On  success,  these  system  calls  return a nonnegative file descriptor.  On error, -1 is
       returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
       EINVAL size is not positive.

       EINVAL (epoll_create1()) Invalid value specified in flags.

       EMFILE The   per-user   limit   on   the   number   of   epoll   instances   imposed    by
              /proc/sys/fs/epoll/max_user_instances  was  encountered.   See epoll(7) for further
              details.

       ENFILE The system limit on the total number of open files has been reached.

       ENOMEM There was insufficient memory to create the kernel object.

VERSIONS
       epoll_create() was added to the kernel in version 2.6.  Library  support  is  provided  in
       glibc starting with version 2.3.2.

       epoll_create1() was added to the kernel in version 2.6.27.  Library support is provided in
       glibc starting with version 2.9.

CONFORMING TO
       epoll_create() is Linux-specific.

NOTES
       In the initial epoll_create() implementation, the size argument informed the kernel of the
       number  of  file  descriptors  that the caller expected to add to the epoll instance.  The
       kernel used this information as a hint for the amount of space to  initially  allocate  in
       internal data structures describing events.  (If necessary, the kernel would allocate more
       space if the caller's usage exceeded the hint given in size.)  Nowadays, this hint  is  no
       longer required (the kernel dynamically sizes the required data structures without needing
       the hint), but size must still be greater than zero, in order to ensure backward  compati‐
       bility when new epoll applications are run on older kernels.

SEE ALSO
       close(2), epoll_ctl(2), epoll_wait(2), epoll(7)

COLOPHON
       This  page  is  part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                                       2012-04-15                            EPOLL_CREATE(2)